The GOP's 'Black People' Platform

Racial politics energize the Republican base, Charles M. Blow writes in his New York Times column. This explains why GOP presidential hopefuls Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum resorted to hurling racist stereotypes just before the Iowa campaign, he writes. The move played well with conservatives for Santorum, who came in a close second. Suggested Reading…

Racial politics energize the Republican base, Charles M. Blow writes in his New York Times column. This explains why GOP presidential hopefuls Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum resorted to hurling racist stereotypes just before the Iowa campaign, he writes. The move played well with conservatives for Santorum, who came in a close second.

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Trump’s Tariffs Might Stick Around. What Should We Buy Now?
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As weโ€™ve gotten around to casting votes to select a Republican presidential nominee, the antiblack rhetoric has taken center stage.

You just have to love (and despise) this kind of predictability.

On Sunday, Rick โ€œThe Roosterโ€ Santorum, campaigning in Iowa, said what sounded like โ€œI donโ€™t want to make black peopleโ€™s lives better by giving them somebody elseโ€™s money. I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money.โ€ At first, he offered a nondenial that suggested that the comment might have been out of context. Now heโ€™s saying that he didnโ€™t say โ€œblack peopleโ€ at all but that he โ€œstarted to say a wordโ€ and then โ€œsort of mumbled it and changed my thought.โ€

(Pause as I look askance and hum an incredulous, โ€œUh huh.โ€)

Newton Leroy Gingrich has been calling President Obama โ€œthe best food stamp presidentโ€ for months, but after plummeting in the polls and finishing fourth in Iowa, he must have decided that this approach was too subtle. So, on Thursday in New Hampshire, he sharpened the shiv and dug it in deeper, saying, โ€œIโ€™m prepared, if the N.A.A.C.P. invites me, Iโ€™ll go to their convention and talk about why the African-American community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps.โ€ On Friday, Gingrich defended himself, as usual, by insisting that exactly what he said wasnโ€™t exactly what he said. He was advocating for African-Americans, not disparaging them โ€ฆ

Read Charles M. Blowโ€™s entire column at the New York Times.

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